Giacomo Petris and Cattarina Cassin
Husband: Giacomo Antonio Petris
Birth: 16 Jan 1846, Zoppola, Italy
Father: Giovanni Battista Petris Mother: Rosa Pighin
Death: 14 May 1890, Zoppola, Italy
Birth: 16 Jan 1846, Zoppola, Italy
Father: Giovanni Battista Petris Mother: Rosa Pighin
Death: 14 May 1890, Zoppola, Italy
Wife: Catterina Cassin
Birth: 20 Nov 1849, Zoppola, Friuli, Italy
Father: Pietro Cassin Mother: Angela De Piero
Death: 27 Dec 1937, Zoppola, Italy
Marriage: 14 May 1871, Zoppola, Italy
Children: Giovanni Battista (1871-1941)
Luigi (1873-1940)
Giovanni (1875-1920)
Angelo (1877-1878)
Angelo (1879-1914)
Maria (1880-1924)
Rosa (1884-1888)
Angela (1886-1962)
Antonio (1888-1942)
The Petris family was originally from Sauris and Ampezzo in the Carnic Alps. The earliest record of a direct ancestor is Nicolo Petris of Ampezzo in 1644. The family nickname was “Chiassan,” meaning they lived in the hamlet of Chiassan (key-A-son) di Celambris, north of Ampezzo. Chiassan does not exist anymore, and has been referred to as one of the “ghost villages of Carnia.” According to blog about hiking in the area:
[One might take a] special excursion to discover the past in the woods of Celambris, where the evocative remains of a large town, now abandoned but full of stories and memories still alive in the memory of our villagers, are preserved. Be accompanied by a local and listen to the testimonies of a lifestyle of the past, it will be a unique experience.
It starts from the square of the former Cima Corso ski slope, and then takes the asphalted road that climbs towards the locality of Fontana; then pass the group of houses and continue along the dirt road that with wide hairpin bends crosses and climbs up a splendid and well-kept beech forest (1 hour). Near the top, at the crossroads, take the road to the right towards Crôs, continue for a short distance (15 min), until you reach the small church of Crôs which was the religious center of the inhabitants of Celambris, the large territory that extends on the left of the Tagliamento river and which, until the last century, housed up to a thousand people in the various scattered farmhouses.
https://www.ampezzocarnico.it/2020/04/03/cima-corso-claupa/
There is a probable connection to a record from 1592 in Sauris about the Petris family, but the early Sauris records were destroyed in a fire at the priest’s house in 1758, so the direct connection is lost. The surname is a patronymic, probably related to St. Peter (Petrus).
Birth: 20 Nov 1849, Zoppola, Friuli, Italy
Father: Pietro Cassin Mother: Angela De Piero
Death: 27 Dec 1937, Zoppola, Italy
Marriage: 14 May 1871, Zoppola, Italy
Children: Giovanni Battista (1871-1941)
Luigi (1873-1940)
Giovanni (1875-1920)
Angelo (1877-1878)
Angelo (1879-1914)
Maria (1880-1924)
Rosa (1884-1888)
Angela (1886-1962)
Antonio (1888-1942)
The Petris family was originally from Sauris and Ampezzo in the Carnic Alps. The earliest record of a direct ancestor is Nicolo Petris of Ampezzo in 1644. The family nickname was “Chiassan,” meaning they lived in the hamlet of Chiassan (key-A-son) di Celambris, north of Ampezzo. Chiassan does not exist anymore, and has been referred to as one of the “ghost villages of Carnia.” According to blog about hiking in the area:
[One might take a] special excursion to discover the past in the woods of Celambris, where the evocative remains of a large town, now abandoned but full of stories and memories still alive in the memory of our villagers, are preserved. Be accompanied by a local and listen to the testimonies of a lifestyle of the past, it will be a unique experience.
It starts from the square of the former Cima Corso ski slope, and then takes the asphalted road that climbs towards the locality of Fontana; then pass the group of houses and continue along the dirt road that with wide hairpin bends crosses and climbs up a splendid and well-kept beech forest (1 hour). Near the top, at the crossroads, take the road to the right towards Crôs, continue for a short distance (15 min), until you reach the small church of Crôs which was the religious center of the inhabitants of Celambris, the large territory that extends on the left of the Tagliamento river and which, until the last century, housed up to a thousand people in the various scattered farmhouses.
https://www.ampezzocarnico.it/2020/04/03/cima-corso-claupa/
There is a probable connection to a record from 1592 in Sauris about the Petris family, but the early Sauris records were destroyed in a fire at the priest’s house in 1758, so the direct connection is lost. The surname is a patronymic, probably related to St. Peter (Petrus).
Giacomo’s grandfather Giacomo had been born in Sauris and baptized in Ampezzo. It appears that a document dating back to 1328, already proved the existence in Sauris di Sotto Church of a place of worship dedicated to St. Oswald. The town itself is much older. Commune di Ampezzo is in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps.
From the nineteenth century, Ampezzo became a notable regional centre for crafts. The local handmade products were appreciated by early British and German holidaymakers as tourism emerged in the late nineteenth century. Among the specializations of the town were crafting wood for furniture, the production of tiled stoves, and iron, copper and glass items.
From the nineteenth century, Ampezzo became a notable regional centre for crafts. The local handmade products were appreciated by early British and German holidaymakers as tourism emerged in the late nineteenth century. Among the specializations of the town were crafting wood for furniture, the production of tiled stoves, and iron, copper and glass items.
The elder Giacomo was an “artist in the field of weaving” and came from a long line of weavers. Like many skilled tradesmen of the time, he would travel around the Friuli plain during the winter season, bringing his skills to the various farming communities that might not have a local practitioner. Javier Grossutti’s Emigration from Western Friuli refers to this as “temporary emigration.”
The distinction between traditional emigration, for “geographical causes”, and modern emigration, for “historical causes”, has to be ascribed to Olinto Marinelli. The Friulian geographer observes that even during the warm months, the care of the meadows, pastures and mountain huts is entrusted mainly to women, because the men, attracted by wages unimaginable in the native country, are in the “Germanies” (Central European countries) building houses, roads, sewers, canals, bridges and railways.
… family units moved to Carnia from Clauzetto, Vito d’Asio and the villages of the Arzino and Tramontina valleys, for some months or for some seasons. Their departure, to guard the herds and for the summer pasture, gives evidence of a migratory situation marked by movement also within the Alpine region.
According to Giovanni Domenico Ciconi, in the first decades of the nineteenth century, temporary emigration led every year out of Friuli
more than 5.000 young farmers in the season when the land needs more hands. It is a harmful emigration because it doesn’t increase, indeed it decreases, the agricultural knowledge of the emigrants, attracts the itinerant life, bears little returns and releases the bonds with family and fatherland.
The effects of the new emigration, especially the profits obtained working abroad, are reflected in the agrarian landscape, in the mentality and culture of the Alpine dwellers, in the houses that adapt to living conditions that are quickly evolving. The contact of the Friulians with the most advanced and ever-changing communities of the transalpine countries accelerates a process of social improvement that had never occurred before. Mountains and foothills, the areas more affected by seasonal emigration to the countries of central Europe, are those which – compared to the other areas of Friuli – present a more developed appearance and in which the inhabitants show higher rates of literacy and civic maturity.
Giacomo moved his family permanently to Zoppola in 1822. (His sister may have married and settled in Zoppola about 1812.) Like their father, Giacomo’s sons, Giovanni Battista and Giorgio, had been born in Sauris and baptized in Ampezzo. Two centuries later, the family was still nicknamed Chei di Carniello, because of their origin in Carnia. Giovanni Battista’s descendants were Petris Ciargnel. His brother Giorgio’s branch is referred to as Petris Sors, descendants of Giorgio.
Giovanni had married Rosa Pighin in 1842. The Pighins are another very old Zoppola family, like the Quattrins and the Cassins, and Pighin is the most common name in Zoppola currently. The whole Petris family moved into a portion of the stable in her father’s house (in today's Petris alley) which belonged to her. They later bought the whole house from her siblings, adapting and expanding it to hold a weaving shop (for hemp and linen) and an adjoining tavern. The eighteenth-century loom, unused for years, was destroyed and thrown away as "useless" household goods crammed in the attic of the Śors at the time of the earthquake in 1976. According to Nerio Petris,
In hindsight, an adequate recovery and restoration would have been appropriate, and the loom could have served as a family emblem.
Thanks to the earnings and savings, the family acquired a modest rural heritage (fields, vineyards, meadows), which allowed the brothers to undertake and convert their activity mainly in the agricultural field by the 1860s. As landowning peasants, they were able to enter civic life and serve on the town council: Giacomo Carniello served in 1864, and, after Giacomo’s death later that year, his son Giorgio Sors held office in 1866, 1871, 1876, 1880, and 1890. The weaving and tavern work continued, though. The 19th century shop continued to be inhabited until after World War II years, and it was used for family storage in the Sors branch until 1976, when the dilapidated building was destroyed by the massive earthquake that caused the collapse of the Castle Tower.
Giacomo Antonio Petris was born on January 16, 1846. Giacomo was the third child of seven and was the first-born son. His eldest sister, Lucia, died when she was two, but he grew up with his second sister, Anna Maria. He had three younger sisters—Angela, Luigia, and Teresa—and a younger brother named Luigi.
In 1855, when Giacomo Antonio was nine, his father died suddenly at the young age of 35. His mother was pregnant with his youngest sister, who was born in 1856, but Teresa only survived one day. His grandfather Giacomo Petris Carniello was still alive and would have served as the young boy’s role model until 1864, when the elder Giacomo also died. At the age of 18, young Giacomo Antonio would have become fully responsible for his mother and four remaining siblings.
Giacomo was of military age during the Second and Third Wars for Italian Independence in 1859-60 and 1866. As far as we know, he was not involved in the military at the time. At 13, he probably was too young to serve in the Second War, and, at 20, he was already the man of the house during the Third War.
One of the girls in town with whom Giacomo grew up was Catterina Cassin.
No early photo available
Catterina Cassin was born on November 20, 1849, to Pietro Cassin and Angela de Piero. The Cassins can be traced back to at least 1500 in Zoppola and probably go back much further. Along with the Bortolussi and Finos families, the Cassins are considered one of the “most ancient families,” according to the book Yatapan, from the Venerable Church of San Martino. The earliest mention of a Cassin in the Church records is a donation by Danillo Cassin in the year 1500 in honor of his anniversary. The Cassins were often stonemasons who, like the Quattrins and Petrises, became landowners by the late 1800s and served on the town council.
Catterina was born on November 20, 1849, to Pietro Cassin and Angela De Piero. She was the third youngest of at least eight children. She most likely did not have a formal education, and it is not known if she could read or write. She was probably raised with all the domestic education that her parents would have expected her to need: cooking, cleaning, keeping house. She would have helped raise her little brother Giovanni and sister Maria-Luigia. She would have learned of the hardships and the precariousness of life when she was 14 and her eight-year-old sister died.
Giacomo and Catterina were married on May 14, 1871, at the Church of San Martino, in Zoppola. He was 25, and she was 22 years old. Like his parents and their son Giobatta, they were pregnant when they got married. Their first child, named Giobatta after his grandfather, was born on August 11, 1871. All together, they would have six sons and three daughters, all but two of whom survived to adulthood. They had a child every two years, like clockwork, until their ninth child, Antonio, was born in 1888. That same year, their four-year-old daughter Rosa died. They had also lost a son, Angelo, in infancy in 1877. As was common at the time, their next son was named Angelo as well.
Giacomo Antonio died in hospital in Pordenone on May 14, 1890. He was only 44 years old. It is unknown what the cause of death was, but his youngest son Antonio (who would move to Kingsburg, California, and become a successful fruit-grower) died of a massive coronary in his early 50s. His sons Giovanni and Angelo also died at the early ages of 44 and 35 respectively, so it is possible heart disease ran in the family. Giacomo Antonio never got the chance to become a town elder or sit on the town council like his father and cousin. History repeated itself as his son Giobatta (a contraction of Giovanni Battista) was 19 at the time and, as the eldest son, became the man of the family, responsible for the wellbeing of his mother and six siblings just as Giacomo Antonio had years before at age 18 when his own grandfather had died.
Catterina survived another 43 years and never remarried. As was common at the time, one or more of her sons and his children would have lived communally with her throughout her life. Her daughters would have moved in with their husband’s family when they married, and it is possible Catterina might have joined one of them later. We do not know for sure.
In 1893, their first grandchild, Giobatta’s son Pietro, was born. Unfortunately, he only lasted eight days. Grandma Catterina was 44 at the time, and she had been a widow for three years. There would be at least 43 grandchildren born over the next 35 years.
Italy became embroiled in World War I in 1915, and the Austrian-Italian Front, on the Isonzo River was only 50 miles away. Catterina’s sons were too old for military service, and the only grandson who was of the right age for the draft was Giobatta’s son Geremia. He had emigrated to America in 1912 and then moved to Canada in 1913, where he disappeared. No one knows for sure what happened to him. In 1917, the Isonzo Front collapsed when the Germans came from the Eastern Front to assist the Austrians. Friuli was overrun, and Zoppola was occupied. Soldiers were billeted in all the houses, and life became very difficult. Food was in short supply. The Occupation lasted almost a year—far less than in Belgium but long enough to deplete the resources of the surrounding area. Post-War recovery was slow.
In 1922, Mussolini rose to power on promises to reestablish Italy as an international power. Initially, his push was economic and involved the Four Battles: The Battle for Grain, The Battle for the Lira, The Battle for Births, and the Battle for Land. The Battle for Grain (or Wheat) pursued the self-sufficiency of wheat production in Italy in order to balance the trade deficit. The campaign was successful, but it went to the detriment of other crops, especially those basic for the livestock industry and, in general, the harmonic development of national agriculture. Due to the economic and social changes, as well as the violent underpinnings of Fascism, many of Catterina’s grandchildren emigrated to California, Argentina, and Canada.
Mussolini’s other big push was for Italianization. The Piedmontese Kingdom of Italy had finally been formed in 1866. They tried to institute a process to force cultural, ethnic, and particularly linguistic assimilation of the native populations living, primarily, in the former Austro-Hungarian territories. It was not particularly well enforced at the time. This process became a major thrust of Fascist rule between 1922 and 1943. It was most violently implemented in the South Tyrol and the Istrian Peninsula. In September 1925, Italian became the sole permissible language in courts of law. In 1926, claiming that it was restoring surnames to their original Italian form, the Italian government announced the Italianization of German, Slovene, and Croat surnames. How much affect Italianization had in Zoppola is unknown, but its existence as a movement had to be distressing to older natives of the area.
Catterina became a great-grandmother in 1924 with the birth of Giobatta’s son Giacomo’s first son Ovidio (known as Blackie). Unfortunately, most of the great-grandchildren born while she was alive were born in America or Argentina, so she never got to see or hold them.
Catterina died on December 27, 1937, at the age of 88. Her beautiful grave marker, erected by her son Antonio, no longer exists, but photos were sent to family members around the world. The one photo we have of Catterina is the one which was mounted on that marker.
Giacomo Antonio Petris was born on January 16, 1846. Giacomo was the third child of seven and was the first-born son. His eldest sister, Lucia, died when she was two, but he grew up with his second sister, Anna Maria. He had three younger sisters—Angela, Luigia, and Teresa—and a younger brother named Luigi.
In 1855, when Giacomo Antonio was nine, his father died suddenly at the young age of 35. His mother was pregnant with his youngest sister, who was born in 1856, but Teresa only survived one day. His grandfather Giacomo Petris Carniello was still alive and would have served as the young boy’s role model until 1864, when the elder Giacomo also died. At the age of 18, young Giacomo Antonio would have become fully responsible for his mother and four remaining siblings.
Giacomo was of military age during the Second and Third Wars for Italian Independence in 1859-60 and 1866. As far as we know, he was not involved in the military at the time. At 13, he probably was too young to serve in the Second War, and, at 20, he was already the man of the house during the Third War.
One of the girls in town with whom Giacomo grew up was Catterina Cassin.
No early photo available
Catterina Cassin was born on November 20, 1849, to Pietro Cassin and Angela de Piero. The Cassins can be traced back to at least 1500 in Zoppola and probably go back much further. Along with the Bortolussi and Finos families, the Cassins are considered one of the “most ancient families,” according to the book Yatapan, from the Venerable Church of San Martino. The earliest mention of a Cassin in the Church records is a donation by Danillo Cassin in the year 1500 in honor of his anniversary. The Cassins were often stonemasons who, like the Quattrins and Petrises, became landowners by the late 1800s and served on the town council.
Catterina was born on November 20, 1849, to Pietro Cassin and Angela De Piero. She was the third youngest of at least eight children. She most likely did not have a formal education, and it is not known if she could read or write. She was probably raised with all the domestic education that her parents would have expected her to need: cooking, cleaning, keeping house. She would have helped raise her little brother Giovanni and sister Maria-Luigia. She would have learned of the hardships and the precariousness of life when she was 14 and her eight-year-old sister died.
Giacomo and Catterina were married on May 14, 1871, at the Church of San Martino, in Zoppola. He was 25, and she was 22 years old. Like his parents and their son Giobatta, they were pregnant when they got married. Their first child, named Giobatta after his grandfather, was born on August 11, 1871. All together, they would have six sons and three daughters, all but two of whom survived to adulthood. They had a child every two years, like clockwork, until their ninth child, Antonio, was born in 1888. That same year, their four-year-old daughter Rosa died. They had also lost a son, Angelo, in infancy in 1877. As was common at the time, their next son was named Angelo as well.
Giacomo Antonio died in hospital in Pordenone on May 14, 1890. He was only 44 years old. It is unknown what the cause of death was, but his youngest son Antonio (who would move to Kingsburg, California, and become a successful fruit-grower) died of a massive coronary in his early 50s. His sons Giovanni and Angelo also died at the early ages of 44 and 35 respectively, so it is possible heart disease ran in the family. Giacomo Antonio never got the chance to become a town elder or sit on the town council like his father and cousin. History repeated itself as his son Giobatta (a contraction of Giovanni Battista) was 19 at the time and, as the eldest son, became the man of the family, responsible for the wellbeing of his mother and six siblings just as Giacomo Antonio had years before at age 18 when his own grandfather had died.
Catterina survived another 43 years and never remarried. As was common at the time, one or more of her sons and his children would have lived communally with her throughout her life. Her daughters would have moved in with their husband’s family when they married, and it is possible Catterina might have joined one of them later. We do not know for sure.
In 1893, their first grandchild, Giobatta’s son Pietro, was born. Unfortunately, he only lasted eight days. Grandma Catterina was 44 at the time, and she had been a widow for three years. There would be at least 43 grandchildren born over the next 35 years.
Italy became embroiled in World War I in 1915, and the Austrian-Italian Front, on the Isonzo River was only 50 miles away. Catterina’s sons were too old for military service, and the only grandson who was of the right age for the draft was Giobatta’s son Geremia. He had emigrated to America in 1912 and then moved to Canada in 1913, where he disappeared. No one knows for sure what happened to him. In 1917, the Isonzo Front collapsed when the Germans came from the Eastern Front to assist the Austrians. Friuli was overrun, and Zoppola was occupied. Soldiers were billeted in all the houses, and life became very difficult. Food was in short supply. The Occupation lasted almost a year—far less than in Belgium but long enough to deplete the resources of the surrounding area. Post-War recovery was slow.
In 1922, Mussolini rose to power on promises to reestablish Italy as an international power. Initially, his push was economic and involved the Four Battles: The Battle for Grain, The Battle for the Lira, The Battle for Births, and the Battle for Land. The Battle for Grain (or Wheat) pursued the self-sufficiency of wheat production in Italy in order to balance the trade deficit. The campaign was successful, but it went to the detriment of other crops, especially those basic for the livestock industry and, in general, the harmonic development of national agriculture. Due to the economic and social changes, as well as the violent underpinnings of Fascism, many of Catterina’s grandchildren emigrated to California, Argentina, and Canada.
Mussolini’s other big push was for Italianization. The Piedmontese Kingdom of Italy had finally been formed in 1866. They tried to institute a process to force cultural, ethnic, and particularly linguistic assimilation of the native populations living, primarily, in the former Austro-Hungarian territories. It was not particularly well enforced at the time. This process became a major thrust of Fascist rule between 1922 and 1943. It was most violently implemented in the South Tyrol and the Istrian Peninsula. In September 1925, Italian became the sole permissible language in courts of law. In 1926, claiming that it was restoring surnames to their original Italian form, the Italian government announced the Italianization of German, Slovene, and Croat surnames. How much affect Italianization had in Zoppola is unknown, but its existence as a movement had to be distressing to older natives of the area.
Catterina became a great-grandmother in 1924 with the birth of Giobatta’s son Giacomo’s first son Ovidio (known as Blackie). Unfortunately, most of the great-grandchildren born while she was alive were born in America or Argentina, so she never got to see or hold them.
Catterina died on December 27, 1937, at the age of 88. Her beautiful grave marker, erected by her son Antonio, no longer exists, but photos were sent to family members around the world. The one photo we have of Catterina is the one which was mounted on that marker.
Unfortunately, more specific details about the lives of Giacomo and Catterina Petris are unknown, and no stories about them have been passed down in the California branch of the family. Even the grave markers have been removed. Like so many of our Friulani ancestors, Giacomo and Catterina only exist in our memories as names and dates. But they were flesh-and-blood individuals who lived the often-hard lives that made our existence possible, probably, and successful. We ow them a debt of gratitude for being the people they were and raising the children they raised in the manner that insured—through hard work and caring for family—the success that so many Petrises have had down through the years. Their efforts and sacrifices provided examples to the future generations of what could be.